NI prison service gets new 'game-changer' body scanners

The machines detected contraband in one in every 10 scans in prisons in England and Wales last year

Body scanners using X-ray technology are being introduced into Northern Ireland prisons to detect smuggled drugs and other contraband.

The equipment is already in place in jails in other parts of the UK.

There are rules around use; there is no authority to scan women prisoners, visitors or staff and no one inmate can be X-rayed more than 50 times a year.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) said the move was "a game changer".

Four machines have been purchased at a combined cost of £300,000 - two will be used at Maghaberry and one each at Magilligan and Hydebank.

Checked on entry

Inmates can refuse a scan, but they would then be subject to other search measures which will remain in place.

Three categories of prisoners will be checked on entry:

• All new inmates

• Those returning from release programmes or leave

• All high-risk, category A prisoners who, for example, may be coming and going when on trial

This will likely amount to more than 4,000 scans each year.

There could be other scans done on an intelligence basis, but this will be "the exception rather than the rule", according to NIPS.

Scanners will be used to detect contraband prisoners may be trying to smuggle in to jail

The X-ray machines will scan the body between the neck and thighs, checking for contraband prisoners have concealed internally.

This will include drugs, mobile phones and weapons.

Ronnie Armour said the scanners could be a game changer

The director general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service hailed the development as a huge step forward in the fight against illegal trafficking.

"The technology should be seen as a deterrent to those who wish to use their bodies to bring drugs and other illegal items into prison," said Ronnie Armour.

"This has the potential to be a game changer and as a result will make prisons safer."

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According to NIPS, the equipment uses radiation in the same way as a hospital X-ray machine, but with a much smaller dose, "over 100 times lower that an X-ray used to detect broken bones".

Last year in England and Wales the machines detected contraband in one in every 10 scans, said the NIPS.

Four body scanners, like the one above, have been purchased at a combined cost of £300,000

A watchdog body has been calling for the technology to be introduced into Northern Ireland jails for several years.

Jacqui Durkin, chief inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, welcomed the step.

"This is a positive development for staff and prisoners who should see the benefits of reducing body searches, quicker identification of illicit items and deterring their presence in our prisons," she said.